Breath In, Breath Out
by Kamer
Summary: It'd always been just the two of them, brothers out to regain what had been lost. Ed never considered that there could be someone else with the same goals and reasons other than himself. Then she came and took their breath away. 2 chapters up
1. Ch 1: Wake Up

Edward never thought there was another person in the world like himself. He felt as if he was the only one who had committed such terrible sin at a young age. Maybe Izumi and his father had done the same act as him, but it was totally different if you had only been a child desperate to once again have his family.

_Mom..._

The alarm clock rang with intensity and shocked him from another restless sleep. Mustang had said for him to be at East HQ at 0900 hours on the dot. The alarm screamed 0800. He had an hour or else he'd be chewed out from top to bottom for being late. Today was the day of the State Alchemist Exams and he was needed there for some reason or another. Maybe the Colonel wanted to show off one of the youngest alchemists in history. Yeah, right. He probably just wanted to piss him off and make him be at an event where he wasn't needed. Ed had better things to do than this.

He rolled out of bed with a clank. "Damn automail..." he grumbled and slammed on the alarm clock. It busted -again- and now he would have to fix it -again-. Alphonse was constantly on him about how destructive he was to hotel property. Wait...where was his little brother?

_Ed,_

_Went to get some breakfast. Stop being cranky and try not to smash the clock again._

_-Al_

Alright, that explained it. His stomach growled angrily but he for once shut it off and hopped into the shower. Just as he was stepping out Al was coming through the door with a bag of tasty smelling food. First he eyed the still broken alarm clock and then his damp and grumpy brother.

"Here, I got some breakfast." Al said, trying to make the mood lighter. It didn't seem to work. He would have told him to fix the clock but considering his big brother's mood he let that go. "You better hurry. The clock downstairs said it was 8:45."

Ed almost spat out his bacon. "What!?" He quickly gulped the rest down and forgot about the orange juice. He scrambled to put on his boots and almost forgot his black jacket that went over his shirt. He couldn't see his favorite red one but had no time to look for it. "Why didn't you tell me!?"

"Well, if you hadn't broken the clock AGAIN..." he retorted but was interrupted.

"No time to argue Al, I gotta go." Before his little brother could respond he had slammed out the door and was running towards the headquarters. Roy had also threatned that if he wasn't there on time he wouldn't deliver them the next rumor or report of the Philospher's Stone.

_Crap!_


	2. Ch 2: The Encounter

**I finally got the reviews required to write the second chapter. This time five reviews are needed for chapter three. I plan to increase each review needed by two for each chapter from now on, so i'd deeply appreciate it if the readers would ask their friends to take a look and post a review. :)**

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In Eastern Headquarters Roy Mustang sat in his office, chair facing the window. He seemed deep in his thoughts. Hopeful alchemist milled outside, some smoking and some practicing.

"You know, I don't usually do this." he finally said. He'd almost forgotten there was another person in the room. His eyes glanced up at the clock above him. It said 8:50 am. Where was the pipsqueak? Mustang had been clear about him needing to be on time today and even threatend to without any reports or rumors about the Philospher's stone if he didn't show up on the dot.

A female voice spoke. "I'd just have kept annoying you if you didn't." The voice was a little sassy but yet reserved.

Roy knew that well enough. The girl had been relentless and every day for about a month had been either stalking HQ waiting for him to show up or phoned his office. How she discovered the private line's number he still didn't know but after changing it twice he had given up and finally listened to her. When he heard what she had to say he felt surprised and slightly worried. He finally turned around in the chair and spoke.

"You know what you're getting yourself into. There's no certainty that things will work out your way. There are older and more practiced adult men outside just as eager as you."

He was being quite clear. Not because he cared much he just didn't want another month of annoyance from this girl. Roy looked her over again. She was quite pretty and mature looking for a sixteen year old with long, straight brown hair and hazel eyes. The uncanny thing about all this was she was short, probably not much taller than Fullmetal. Mustang suddenly had the feeling of deja vu and he wondered if that was a good or bad thing.

She crossed her arms and looked at him with a playful smile. "I know exactly what i'm getting myself into." she said confidently.

Suddenly the door bursted open and Edward Elric came in, out of breath and looking extremly irritated. "I...made...it..." he said, putting his hands on his knees. Gold eyes looked up at the clock and he felt triumphant. He was three minutes early. Ed felt like falling on the floor and collapsing. Suddenly he noticed another person, a girl at that in the room. Who was she and why did she look so...so...amused!?

Mustang glanced up at the clock the same time as Ed. "Well done, Fullmetal. By the way, the clock is slow. You're a minute late." The look on Fullmetal's face was priceless. "By the way, this is Cade Kamer. Cade, this is Edward Elric. She's trying the exams today." he looked at the now introduced Cade, who had an amused smile on her face.

Ed straightened himself up and in a brief moment looked Cade over. By this time she was used to it. Cade looked him over at the same time and made the same assumptions. Same height, not bad looking at all and both seemed tense today. Ed for being late and her for the exams. "So, why am I needed?" Ed asked the Colonel coyly and thought to himself _"Is the bastard trying to set me up or something?"_

Roy had that annoying smirk on his face. "You'll see." he said myseriously and Ed almost had a temper tantrum. He had been forced to get up for this crap? Ed had the notion to just turn around and storm out. Cade watched the scence silently and finally spoke.

"I better get out there. I don't want to miss anything." she said and started to walk out. As she passed Ed, he was filled with the smell of a really nice perfume...was is roses? Yeah, it was. She smelled nice.

Mustang stood up and spoke. "I'm pulling strings here." he warned her but she just seemed to shrug him off. When she had left Ed turned to Roy and they eyed each other. Mustang was probably still irritated about his most recent stint in Central. It wasn't his fault the building had exploded...well, maybe...but he still got the bad guy at least. Was this a sort of punishment?

"What the hell are you trying to pull here?" he demanded abruptly.

Mustang had sat back down and was pretending to be involved in a stack of important papers. "Watch your mouth, Fullmetal. I'm pulling nothing." he warned him without looking up.

Edward folded his arms and felt himself getting more irritated. He hadn't even had time to braid his hair back like usual and it hung in a quickly pulled up ponytail. "Then why was she in here and what do I have to do with this?" he asked through his teeth. He was still pissed off about having to be in a rush and being in the same room as Mustang didn't make things any better.

Roy finally looked up and sighed. "You have a lot to do with this, Fullmetal. You and her have a lot in common and we also need you to be here for publicity purposes. Now, go to the exam room and look like you're having the time of your life." he commanded and seemed to have closed the subject. What was he hiding from Ed? What did he mean by he and Cade had a lot in common? To mad to speak, Edward left the office and shut the door quite hard behind him.

_What is going on?_


End file.
